Speak Out June 2018

Enchiridion / ɛn kəˈrɪd i ən a small book containing essential information on a subject; Late Middle English: via late Latin from Greek enkheiridion, from en- ‘within’ + kheir ‘hand’ + diminutive suffix –idion

Welcome to our new column , which is for anyone who ever had questions about research and the scholarly publishing process. With so many new initiatives and processes, we appreciate it can be hard to stay on top of everything in the publishing space as well as do the day job! Over the year, we hope to cover some key topics on how to get your work published. Please do send us ideas for topics too. Our first topic is about planning your research project. For the best chance of getting your work accepted into a scholarly journal, you need to make sure you cover some important basic principles in the design of your study. Luckily, these days, we have guidelines to help us do that. The Equator Network – www.equator-network.org – is where you should start. Equator stands for E nhancing the QUA lity and T ransparency O f health R esearch. The website contains links to guidelines that help you design your study, whether it is a quality improvement project, a case report, a study about diagnosis, a small treatment trial, a systematic review, or even a group-level Publishing your work Before you start...

randomised clinical trial. If you’ve already started your study, you can use the checklists on this site to see if your study meets these guidelines; if it does, you’ve got a much better chance of getting it published. Why? "The EQUATOR...Network is an international initiative that seeks to improve the reliability and value of published health research literature by promoting transparent and accurate reporting and wider use of robust reporting guidelines. It is the first coordinated attempt to tackle the problems of inadequate reporting systematically and on a global scale...” 1 • These guidelines help authors to include all important information about their research, which can increase the probability of their manuscript being published and enhance the value of their research to clinicians and other researchers

1 source: www.equator-network.org

24

June 2018 www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au

Speak Out